Top Muslim clerics: Convert must die

Religious leaders urge courts to ignore West, hang Christian

Friday, March 24, 2006

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Senior Muslim clerics are demanding that an Afghan
man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity be executed, warning that
if the government caves in to Western pressure and frees him, they will
incite people to "pull him into pieces."

In an unusual move, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned
President Hamid Karzai on Thursday seeking a "favorable resolution" of the case
of Abdul Rahman. The 41-year-old former medical aid worker faces the death
penalty under Afghanistan's Islamic laws for becoming a Christian.

His trial has fired passions in this conservative Muslim nation and highlighted
a conflict of values between Afghanistan and its Western backers.

"Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be
humiliated. This man must die," said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is
considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the
Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.

"He is not crazy. He went in front of the media and confessed to being a
Christian," said Hamidullah, chief cleric at Haji Yacob Mosque. "The government
is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is
freed."

Raoulf, who is a member of the country's main Islamic organization, the Afghan
Ulama Council, concurred. "The government is playing games. The people will not
be fooled."

"Cut off his head!" he exclaimed, sitting in a courtyard
outside Herati Mosque. "We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so
there's nothing left."

He said the only way for Rahman to survive would be for him to go into exile.

But Said Mirhossain Nasri, the top cleric at Hossainia Mosque, one of the
largest Shiite places of worship in Kabul, said Rahman must not be allowed to
leave the country.

"If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so
they can, too," he said. "We must set an example. ... He must be
hanged."

The clerics said they were angry with the United States and other countries for
pushing for Rahman's freedom.

"We are a small country and we welcome the help the outside world is giving us.
But please don't interfere in this issue," Nasri said. "We are Muslims
and these are our beliefs. This is much more important to us than all
the aid the world has given us."

Afghanistan's constitution is based on Sharia law, which is interpreted by many
Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death.